The Duty of Siblings
by cdsmm
Summary: One-shot between Touya and Sakura. Nice and sweet. It's not just the older ones who care.


**Promt:** 17 - The Duty of Siblings. (Hence the title.)

**A/N:** Rereading CCS. ^^ This was inspired by the mirror card story, when Touya falls off a cliff and gets injured, remember? Thanks in advance for reading!

**Disclaimer:** Characters by CLAMP.

o^///^o

Touya grinned from behind the cup of hot chocolate he was holding. Upstairs, he heard his little sister running around in her room, frantically getting ready for the day.

Fujitaka chuckled while looking up at the ceiling. "Looks like Sakura-chan is awake."

Sure enough, Sakura soon came bounding down the stairs two steps at a time and immediately downed a glass of orange juice when she reached the table. "Morning!" she chirped, earning her a response from her dad and a toothy grin from her brother.

"Morning... little monster."

"I am not a monster!" she protested, stomping her foot in aggravation.

And so the routine begins.

Touya chuckled and got up to leave. "I'm leaving." he said, grabbing his jacket by the door. He was about to head out when Sakura called for him to wait. She kissed her father and thanked him for breakfast, then she grabbed a piece of toast from the plate and hurried outside to put on her skates.

"Let's go!" she called to her brother, even though he was standing ahead of her.

They rode through the usual route, picking up Yukito and having a light conversation on their way to school. They dropped her off and as they continued down their path, Yukito commented, "Hey, Sakura-chan's growing up."

Touya huffed. "Doesn't matter how much she grows up, she'll always be my little sister anyway."

"You're a kind person." whispered Yukito.

o^///^o

Touya dropped Yukito off after school and headed for his work. On his way he saw Sakura in a distance, with the stuffed animal hovering above her in mid-air. It looked like she was fighting something. He knew about her magical abilities, but he never told her about it. He felt perfectly fine protecting her from a distance. He stopped his bike and decided to watch.

Sakura was at the final stage of capturing the Clow card, she twirled her staff in her hands and hit the non-entity in front of her with it. A card appeared out of nowhere, and suddenly the mysterious being was absorbed into it. Sakura caught the card before it fell to floor and she jumped in success while the stuffed animal flew around her, waving it's fists in the air. Touya smiled, impressed and feeling proud of his sister.

Although Touya knew before that Sakura was dealing with the unknown, seeing for the first time the things she does opened his eyes to what he didn't realize before. Sakura really was growing up and taking on more difficult responsibilities. He fully trusted in her abilities, but that doesn't mean that he will stop protecting her. No. He will do it still, protecting her from a distance and being there for her when she needs him. With those thoughts in his head, he proceeded to ride his bike to work.

o^///^o

That night, Touya returned home exhausted and hungry. The toy shop where he worked required a lot of patience and energy because of all the little kids and their demands. He was too tired to cook something up, so he decided to just check their fridge for something to heat up in the microwave, like he's been doing every night since he got that job. He came to a halt at the entry way of their kitchen. Sakura had her elbow on the table, her head resting on her hand. Across from her, a dinner was set for Touya. He knew it was for him because that was his spot. His heart warmed at the sight.

"Sakura?"

She looked up at Touya and smiled. "Welcome home, Touya-nii-chan."

"Yeah, I'm home." He gestured at the dinner, "What's all this?"

"Oh, uh, well, you come home late these days, and before dinner tonight dad set aside some food for you to heat up when you get back. You're always working, so I decided to fix this dinner up for you so you can eat well."

Touya couldn't say anything, but he felt really happy. It seems that his little sister was taking care of him too. He ruffled her hair affectionately and sat down to eat. The food was still a little hot, which he greatly appreciated.

"You know nii-chan," Sakura began while watching her brother eat, "you tease me a lot, but I know you care, and you look after me."

"Uh-huh." nodded Touya, his mouth full. He didn't feel the need to respond anyway.

"I feel like I don't show you, or tell you enough, how much I care about you too."

Touya momentarily stopped chewing and observed the uncharacteristic behavior his sister was showing. After swallowing his food, he said, "Sakura, just know that I will always be here for you." he said earnestly.

Sakura jumped off her chair and scuttled to Touya. She hugged him and gave him a kiss on the cheek. "I love you, nii-chan!" she said, smiling brightly at him. She ran for the stairs, stopping at the foot to say goodnight to her brother, before climbing it.

"Goodnight, little monster." he replied, quite softly.

Sakura heard him, but decided to let it pass so as not to ruin the moment. A smile graced both their lips at the exact same time

_- W A K A S -_


End file.
